Samara at 15 Months

Until now, my only experience with 15-month-olds was from when my cousin came to visit last year when Sam was 6 weeks old. She brought with her a 30-pound bundle of energy who seemed impossibly well-developed and intelligent. I figured it would be years before Sam was like that. And now? She is right there with him.

This month has been a very exciting one. She has gone from cruising to stilted, Frankenstein walking. At this point she walks about 20 percent of the time and crawls the rest, primarily when she wants to get from point A to point B quickly. She is well on her way, though and I am relieved to say that she is coming in at average in the walking department. I am desperately proud of her. I am not sure I will even feel this proud if and when she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard Law School. Seeing her stumble around the park upright in her new Stride-Rite sandals has to fall into the "one of the best moments of my life" category.

She remains stubborn and willful, which sometimes makes me proud and sometimes makes me want to yank my hair out, it just depends on my mood. She wants what she wants when she wants it and does not really "go with the flow."

Her cognitive abilities are astounding. Yesterday I asked her to hand me the pink barrette and she did so with ease. She continues to acquire language at a frightening pace, declaring herself "Ha-ppy Ba-Bby" and always asking for "More, More More." She adores puppies and kitties and can now make sounds for them all. When she sees a cow, she moos. She sings ABC's (which sounds like HA-BE-CE-DE-HA-BE-CE-DE, but she gets the melody right). She also plays pat-cake with her stuffed animals by clapping their hands and rhythmically singing "Ha-be, Ha-be." Only her dad and I know what she is doing, but it is quite clear to us and we love it.

We have been going to the park at least once a day to enjoy this gorgeous weather and Sam is loving it. She even allowed herself to get dirty the other day, which is a huge step for our unusually fastidious daughter. Her eating is getting better (knock wood) and she loves to try to feed herself with utensils, which is also oh-so-fun for me. I emerge from breakfast often covered in applesauce flung unceremoniously from the bean's spoon. But she does manage to get a lot in her mouth so I am proud. She has also mastered the sippi-cup and we could switch her over entirely, but I really don't care that much. She likes her "baba", too, so we are letting her keep it.

I am also proud to report that after forcing her into the pool every week since our disasterous first attempt, she now loves the pool and is happy to splash, kick her legs and be tossed about. This is a huge relief for me and again, I am oh-so-very-proud.

In other news, I ran four miles today (and three on Tues), so my "done runnin" post was a bit premature. There is still life in me yet!! We also finally took care of some of the scary parenting things we have been putting off (writing a will, getting life insurance). So while it frightens me to think about death and such, I am happy to feel a little more protected if something horrible does (G-d forbid) occur.

Here are some photos (all taken with my new iphone, which is like the best thing that has ever happened to me next to Sam, of course):